KATHMANDU, April 7: The government has so far imported 30,500 tons of fertilizers from Bangladesh on government-to-government basis out of the total amount of 50,000 tons under a bilateral agreement.

According to the Agriculture Inputs Company (AIC), the remaining 19,500 tons of fertilizers will be imported by April end. Last December, the government signed an agreement with Bangladesh to purchase 50,000 metric tons of urea.

AIC Spokesperson Bishnu Prasad Pokharel said the government has increased the import of chemical fertilizers targeting to end the shortfall of the agricultural input during the rice plantation season this year.

Last year, farmers encountered fertilizer shortages right from the beginning of the planting season in June. Following the incident, the government for the first time initiated to import 50,000 tons of urea from Bangladesh under the G2G model.

As per the government records, the annual demand for chemical fertilizer currently stands at more than 700,000 tons. The government has allocated Rs 11 billion in fertilizer subsidies for this fiscal year.

According to the AIC, currently it has 17,000 tons of fertilizers in stock. “We have been distributing 700 tons of fertilizer daily,” said Pokharel. 

 
• fertiliser
 
• shortage
 
• Bangladesh
 
• Agriculture_Inputs_Company